Dana Perino, White House press secretary, released a statement from Bush saying: "The president appreciates the bipartisan members of the congressional leadership and the two presidential candidates coming to the White House today to discuss how to finalize the financial rescue package.

soundoff(193 Responses)

Politics should have never gotten near these finance talks. Neither are on the banking committees. Why was everything fine until McCain entered the talks?

September 25, 2008 06:39 pm at 6:39 pm |

Obama 08

To GARY...what planet did you come from? And, please go back to it.

September 25, 2008 06:39 pm at 6:39 pm |

Bayou Dodd

Chris Dodd (D), Barney Franks (D) and Obama (D) were the largest receipients of money from Fannie and Freddie. Do we trust them to clean up this mess their friends have left behind. You decide.

September 25, 2008 06:39 pm at 6:39 pm |

Republican for change

President McCain's Leadership is admired?

Huh???? The guy was still his old stubborn self and said "fundamentals of the economy are strong" last week.

McCain has ZERO judgement. He makes wrong decisions and tries to fix it later on. That's his track record.

September 25, 2008 06:39 pm at 6:39 pm |

Mike, Syracuse NY

Consequences of waiting on a bailout: Possibly another depression.
Consequences of delaying the debate; Nada
McCain's plan: Fix the problem now.
Obama's plan: Talk
Could the Dems have picked anyone who demonstrates less leadership ability? No.

September 25, 2008 06:40 pm at 6:40 pm |

FactCheck

Obama and Biden….let's debate Friday even though our country needs us.

Morons…
___________

Oh no, I got a better idea... why don't we show up in Washington for a photo-op, not say a single word throughout the entire meeting and then have some of our Republican cronies veto the deal.

With fools like you to follow blindly, it's no wonder that the Republicans have taken this country into hell.

September 25, 2008 06:40 pm at 6:40 pm |

Ron was a REP now a DEM

I like Obama and McCain talking on how to proceed with the issue at hand. They McCain pulling a sucker punch 10 mins. later to the press that he has been avoiding for the past 6 weeks.

No leadership there
No honesty
No honor

America deserves better than self serving John McCain

Obama / Biden 08 Poise / Experience 08

September 25, 2008 06:40 pm at 6:40 pm |

Independent in NC

Wait, Obama didn't swoop in with his six-point plan (or is it five-point now) and fix everything lickety-split? I love how this is all McCain's fault – Obama was in that room too, people. A little levity is in order. We haven't heard anything yet, how do you know Obama wasn't a proponent of scrapping the bill?

Remeber when Clinton signed the Financial Services Modernization Act in 1999? I can't help but wonder if that had anything to do with the pickle we're in now. Maybe it was McCain masked as Clinton! And then he went down to the basement of the WH to work on his weather machine to bring hurricanes to gulf region.

Face it, we all screwed up – Dems, Repubs, corporations, CEOs, lenders, and those people who borrowed way too much money that they couldn't afford to pay back who are now looking for a handout to save their butts. Good for our government for taking more time to do a thorough analysis of the solutions and their probable outcomes.

September 25, 2008 06:41 pm at 6:41 pm |

PD Thomas

Let's hope Barack does NOT change his mind and spends the night prepping for the debate...tomorrow morning in Washington and then hops a plane to Ole Miss tomorrow. Change it up. Have a BBQ...roll up your sleeves and make it into the biggest town hall in history.

September 25, 2008 06:41 pm at 6:41 pm |

Michael, watching from Canada

Fact: Both Democrat and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate stated publicly at lunch that a deal, in principle, was made for resolving the immediate financial crisis.

This deal was made prior to McCain coming on the scene.

Fact: A meeting at the White House results in one of the Republican leaders injecting a completely new set of requests, on behalf of the House Republicans, without any prenotification!

This surprise set of Republican requests were, in part, based upon a meeting that McCain that had with the Republicans.

Conclusion: The process for coming to a bipartisan agreement for resolving the financial crisis has been severely upset by McCain coming in to process he had no previous participation.

Please, America, see this for what it is........

The world certainly does.

September 25, 2008 06:41 pm at 6:41 pm |

Katt in FL

Hey, where do I sign up for one of these NO-interest loans? A billion dollar loan with no interest? Sign me up!

September 25, 2008 06:41 pm at 6:41 pm |

Dan

Of course there is no agreement on the Republican side, they are stalling so they can not debate and to also mess with the election.

I say F them already, I am so sick of this administration and the Republicans, they make me want to puke.

McCain just steals ideas from Obama and recycles them for himself, sometimes in the same day speeches, really sad.

Army Ranger for Obama/Biden

September 25, 2008 06:42 pm at 6:42 pm |

Wendy in NC

SHAME ON YOU, SEN. MCCAIN!!! This is exactly what so many members of congress predicted – you injected politics into a crisis. This is the most juvenile, contrived and ridiculous stunt you have pulled to date. McCain has lost all credibility, integrity and yes, HONOR. As an American, I am offended by your actions today.

September 25, 2008 06:42 pm at 6:42 pm |

salvo

This is not the time to "cut and run" go to the debates and discuss the issues most important to us, the voters. We have a right to hear from you before we decide who to hire. That goes for Sarah too. You can't hide forever!

September 25, 2008 06:43 pm at 6:43 pm |

sue

The republicans are trying to put a wrench in this for mccain-bottom line, its not that mccain doesnt want to debate obama-what he wants is palin not to debate next week!
his idea is if he could adjust the schedule a little (by having the presidential debate on the 2nd) & maybe even add another presidential debate-which mean they would have to cancel one of them-which olne do you think they would cancel...you got it Pontiac, it would be the vp debate!
REMEMBER THE REPUBLICANS,INCLUDING MCCAIN, CAUSED THIS MESS!
Mccains house of cards are falling...we realize more & more that palin is not up for the job...we are finding out that mccain is not up for the job-even his campaign manager is looking dirtier & dirtier with this whole fannie & freddie lobbying-mcccain is just trying to keep his head above water!
Please stop giving him the title as honorable-that may of been 40 years ago-but now...come one!

September 25, 2008 06:43 pm at 6:43 pm |

TRUTH

NO to BUSH no to the REPUBLICANS they got us in this mess. I am a Democrat that was thinking of voting for McCain, but this economy is best with the Democrats in charge. McCain can thank bush for the loss.

September 25, 2008 06:44 pm at 6:44 pm |

Katt in FL

Hey, where do I sign up for one of these NO-interest loans? A trillion dollar loan with no interest? Sign me up!

September 25, 2008 06:44 pm at 6:44 pm |

Texican

i have a better proposal and it will cost less than 700B. Every American (not foreignors) that are on the verge of losing their primary residence because they cannot pay their mortgage would sell their home to a govt agency for the amount of the mtg and the agency would sell it back to them for $1.00, the money would then go back to the bank that lent the money and they would have money to lend to someone else with better credit and an actual job. This way the money goes directly where it is needed and the homeowner now free from a mortgage, gets to keep his house, feed his or her children and pay for gas, etc, etc.